FRANCE: The Needle

On the eve of the Big Three meeting, the uninvited Big Fourth somewhat grandly—and frostily—proclaimed a policy of her own. Said President Charles de Gaulle in a broadcast to his nation:

"In the world as it is today, there are two very great powers [i.e., the U.S. and Russia], and we lie exactly between them . . . the bridgehead of the West in Europe. . . . Our vital interests command us ... to follow a policy of friendship, to the East and to the West, with our eyes open and our hands free.

"This policy of France may temporarily lead the two very great powers, on occasions when they meet each other, to agree at least to keep France at a distance. We regret these contretemps for them, for us, and for the world. But we know that our equilibrium is identified with the equilibrium of peace, and we are fully decided not to abandon it, in the certainty that, after various oscillations, our attitude will finally determine the equilibrium of the needle for the good of all. . . ."